Luna was sitting on a pillow in the highest Canterlot castle tower, gently guiding the moon down towards its resting place. This was yet another peaceful, if not boring night. Very few visitors, no signs of threat or a catastrophe dragging its feet towards Equestria… Just peace and quiet, in which the royal princess could observe her night sky and make small beauty adjustments amongst the stars.
The mare expected the sun goddess to arrive at any minute, relieving her and taking charge of the day. Time passed though and neither Celestia nor the sun came to gret her. A bit irritated at her sister’s sudden sloppiness, Luna stormed down the stairs and straight to the white alicorn’s bedroom doors.
“Celestia, why aren’t thou up yet!!” she called out, banging on the heavy oak doors, “’Tis time thou bring up the sun and attend to thine royal duties!” An inaudible moan came from the other side – annoyed, Luna barged in, ready to scold her lazy sister.
On the large bed that could probably fit 4 ponies lay a blanket covered shape. “Sweet night sky, wake up!” Luna prodded the lump. Something shifted beneath the cover, moaning again. Irritated, Luna yanked away the blanket.
“Sun and moon help me! Tia! What happened to you?! Are you alright?!” The blue mare stared in shock at her sister. “Your coat… It… It’s… pink! … And you’re hot! … What are you smiling about? Ughhh! I meant you have temperature, you little pervert!” yelled Luna, taking her hoof off Celestia’s forehead.
The sun-goddess’ fur was indeed the colour of a wild flamingo. Her multi-hued mane was in total disarray and the look on her face spoke volumes about the way she felt. “It’s… Nothing…” moaned the princess, coughing viciously, “I’ll be up in… A second… Just let me…”
“Oh no you won’t!” Luna forced the (now) pink mare back in bed. “Don’t you even dare think about getting up today, sister. Your duties… I’ll substitute for you. But only today!” She winked, nuzzling Celestia affectionately and covering her with a blanket “So you do your best and rest up, okay? I can handle this, like any other royal princess!” She planted a kiss on her sister’s head and silently departed the chamber. This was her day to shine – being Celestia for a day! Luna hoped no one heard the fillish squee that echoed through the halls.
* * *
“So, now, raising the sun,” pondered the princess of the night, pacing the balcony. “It can’t be any harder than moving the moon about. I can handle this. No problem at all” She stuck out her tongue and closed her eyes, concentrating. There it was, the white hot star, just beneath the horizon. The flowing heat was something Luna wasn’t exactly fond of – the moon, whose surface was metallic and cool to the mental touch, felt a lot more pleasurable.
She gently embraced the star and tugged it upwards. It slipped out of grasp, deforming like clay. “Ouups…” hissed the princess. She couldn’t see the star, but it definitely felt more like an oval now. “Ummm…” Sweat graced her brow. She gripped the star again, trying to mould it back to its original shape. Heat crept through her body, courtesy of both the sun's energy and gathering frustration; for every corner she smoothed out, others would pop up at the opposite side. “Ungrateful star!” she called out to the (still hidden) sun. “Thou SHALL listen to thy Princess!” Fuelled by her pride and just a teeny tiny bit of desperation, Luna yanked the star into the sky.
The flash of light accompanying the violent sunrise caused quite a stir in Canterlot – guards were running about, ponies on the streets were confused, some of them forming screaming groups of panicked citizens. How could one keep calm when the sun looked like a peanut?
“That… Will have to do…” huffed the night-goddess, snorting angrily. “We will meet again at dusk… My nemesis.”
As she turned to leave, she noticed something from the corner of her eye – a white flash that dove behind her. “Huh?” The princess squinted and turned. There is was again! Round and round she went, always a step behind the evasive thing. Frustrated to the limit, she finally tripped over her own hooves. The white thing was sitting behind her flank! “Aha!” she yelled in triumph, catching the elusive object. It was soft to the touch... And it was groping her royal hind! Wait…
* * *
In over a thousand years, nopony has ever heard anypony wail in the Royal Cantelot Voice. The sheer volume of the crying made windows shatter and guard ponies cover their ears. The more courageous ones were steadily pushing against the sound waves towards their clearly upset princess, whose mane turned white.
* * *
“Next on the agenda… Meeting royal subjects” read Luna, holding up a piece of gold framed paper. A gentle breeze from the glassless windows disturbed her hair, which was recently coloured with literally tubs of cobalt blue hair dye. Unfortunatelly, the effect was dissapointing – the white tint was fighting vigorously to shine out.
“This really can’t be that hard,” she said, running a hoof through her poor mane. “There are very few applicants during the night and most of them come for comforting their petty fears of the night.” Feeling a little bit more confiden nowt, she instructed the guards to let in the first applicant.
“All hail Celes… Umm…” The pony that entered looked aghast and dropped to the ground “Princess Luna! All hail Princess Luna I meant!”
Startled, the blue mare approached the shaking applicant. “Thou has come for counselling, not cleaning the royal floor, has thou not?” As gently as she could she raised the colt’s head.
“Umm… Y-Yes. I mean, n-no!” he mumbled, eyes darting all over the place. Broken windows, Luna’s rugged hair (with white in it?!) and the earlier screams led to only one conclusion. “I-I have no qualm w-with our new Princess of Night AND Day! All hail Luna, the ruler of Equestria!” he intoned in a high, squeaking voice.
The night princess was lost for a second; she facehoofed with a groan as soon as she understood what the pony meant. “No, it is not as thou thinkest,” she said with a sigh, “my royal sister and ruler of the day, Princess Celestia, found herself ill today and unable to attend her royal duties. I am merely filling her place for when she recuperates.”
“I-Ill?” asked the pony, pressure visibly leaving his body. “O-Oh… I’m sorry to hear that, P-Princess. P-Please, relay my wishes for her to get well s-soon!”
“I shall. But now, let us not waste time. What conundrum brings thy person here, fair stallion?”
* * *
Several ponies later, Luna scheduled a small break. Her eye twitched as she finished writing a notice that said in majestic, gothic letters: “PRINCESS CELESTIA IS ALIVE, BUT SICK. LUNA DID NOT OVERTHROW HER SISTER. SHE IS PERFORMING HER DUTIES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.” A bit more forcefully than it was necessary, the mare shoved the paper into a guard’s hooves and ordered it hammered to the doors.
* * *
The last applicant finally left the large chamber, bowing gracefully and wishing (for the twelfth time now, if Luna’s math was correct) for Celestia to get better soon. The sound of giant hinges locking into a closed position almost sent ripples of pleasure through the mare’s body. She was exhausted. There were a lot more equines in “dire” need of assistance during the day than she could ever imagine. Still, it was the duty of a Princess to treat the worries of each and every of her subjects with equal care and seriousness – be it a threatening stir in the Everfree Forest or advice regarding a coltfriend.
One applicant in particular sank into Luna’s memory – a white coated stallion with what looked like dyed hair, resembling that of her sister. He barged in with serenades on his lips, flowers and candy floating in his wake. He was half-way through the second verse of a miserable love poem when he finally realised the night princess was staring at him with an awkward glare.
“Ummm… My princess? What are you doing here?” he looked around the messy room. “Where is your... Sister?”
“If thou would have read the sign at the door… Thou would have realised Princess Celestia is ill.”
“Goodness gracious!” exclaimed the colt, dropping his gifts. “Really?! Can I see her? Is she going to be all right?”
“See… Her?” asked Luna with a raised eyebrow, “I’m afraid that is impossible… The Princess needs her rest and shall not be disturbed. Who art thou anyway? What is the purpose of the offerings thou brought and the… Peculair song that graced thou lips?”
“U-umm… I…” The colt ran his hoof through his colourful mane. His face flushed red and he just turned away and darted out of the room, bumping into an unsatisfied guard on his way.
Luna approached the abandoned gifts. A card in the flowers read
“For my one and only love,
Yours,
(hopefully soon)
‘Prince Celest’ ”
* * *
Having rested and collected herself (and applied another batch of hair dye that was just brought in), the blue mare returned to the paper with her duties for the day. A meeting with high society over a fancy dinner. This was a task she was actually looking forward to! Finally, someponies with a little bit of tact and grace to avert her thoughts from this so far disastrous day. It wasn’t easy being a sun goddess and Luna made a mental note to praise her sister for the patience and resolve she had for her duties.
* * *
Soft music floated in the air, courtesy of the best quartet in Canterlot; the giant dining table in the centre of the room was bending under tons of appetisers, soups, main courses and drinks. Whispered conversations were a balm for Luna’s ears and nopony seemed to nag her with enquiries about her sister’s health. It was just perfect. So perfect in fact, the mistress of the night was tensing up and bracing for something to happen. Food would turn out to be uncooked? Somepony would offend another, starting a food fight? The possibilities were endless and the princess absentmindedly spilled grape juice over her fur.
“Ekhem,” she heard from the side. A white colt with short, blue hair and a fancy monocle discreetly offered her a napkin. Embarrassed, Luna graciously accepted and tried to save her coat from ruin. The stain was barely visible on the dark colour of her fur, yet it felt as if it was calling out to the others: “Look at me! I’m an ungraceful slob and a pig!” Red joined to the variety of Luna's colours, finding a comfortable spot on her cheeks.
* * *
The peanut-sun, which was the talk of most of Canterlot that day, has reached its zenith when the princess exited the banquet. Save for the slip up with the juice, she had quite some fun talking to the pony whom introduced himself as Fancypants. He was a very keen observer and had a remarkable sense of humour – the gossip that went back and forth made Luna cheer up a little and smile for the first time that day.
The royal task list had a most delightful entry lined up, called “Rest”, that the alicorn would complete with utmost vigour and on a couch she never realised was so comfortable. As she ordered the guards to not allow anyone disturb her "royal duty", a tingling sensation prodded Luna to stand up. Magic was in the air, and its origin was unknown to the royal mare. Forgetting fatigue, she lit up her horn and begun the search, trotting faster and faster through the castle halls.
In the royal gardens, she saw it. A trail of smoke, lined with sparkling energies, was zipping through the air and into the hallway. No guard seemed to notice it – was it some black magic? An attack on Canterlot?! As fast as she could, the mare followed the darting spell. It was headed for Celestia’s chambers! An assassin!
Head down wings out, the princess went into pursuit, trying to catch the enchantment with her telekinesis. The spell sensed that and started evading; Luna felt excitement put her blood to the boil – the chase was on! She nearly crashed into a wall or guard several times, but there was no giving up – her sick sister was counting on her, her life was in Luna’s hooves!
The spell took many sharp corners and flew around the whole castle, trying to shake off the princess. It managed to squirm through crevices and chimneys a few times, granting it a few seconds of advantage, which were instantly lost when the enraged alicorn started teleporting.
Teleportation in flight was a difficult art and Luna was so thrilled she was doing something dangerous that she almost forgot she was trying to catch the spell, not merely chase it. As the two reached Celestia’s door again, terror struck the night princess – the spell was going under the doors!
Blue light flooded the hall as the royal mare dragged the flailing enchantment by its tail. Her hooves were slipping, the regal horseshoes screeching against marble. It was a match of equals, but the night princess’ resolve prevailed. The spell was subdued and brought to her private study.
* * *
The enchantment was squirming on the floor next to the ruins of a once finely crafted table. Luna learned the hard way not to put the aggressive wisp on anything less sturdy than rock. She was focusing all her knowledge and power to subdue the spell, to reveal its true nature. Would a pony assassin burst out of the smoke? Would it be a swarm of venomous snakes? A simple yet effective ball of fire?
It took time, but finally the spell begun to undo itself and take on its true form. Luna held her breath, staying low and bracing for a fight. Finally, before her stood the most hideous, the most deadly… Scroll?
“Thou shall not fool me, sorcerer!” she yelled, scorching the object with phoenix fire.
The royal horn was steaming as she finally decided to stop – some additional heavy protection wards prevented the paper from total obliteration. There were no tortured screams or violent transformations, however, so it was decided by the Princess that, indeed, this was an ordinary scroll. Meant to be delivered to Celestia.
With a frown she picked up the blackened remains and read aloud:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that… (burned out)… Spike had… (a smouldering hole)… and should everypony … (bad hoofwriting)… happy!
Your f… (grilled) student,
Twilight Sparkle
The torched friendship report gently flew to the ground. The eye went twitchy-twitch.
* * *
“Most dearest and loyal friend Twilight” wrote Luna in a heavy gothic font, taking her time to accent all the whirls and edges of each letter, “I am afraid that in error I have rendered your report to my sister, Princess Celestia, unreadable. I wholeheartedly apologise for this inconvenience – in my defence I wish to explain that the Princess is sick and should not be disturbed, hence my overzealous apprehension of the letter. That led to its destruction.” She frowned, tapping a hoof on the table. She didn’t write many letters during her night duty, save for signatures beneath orders and edicts. Her style was time-consuming, so she decided to skip some formalities. “Could you resend later? Thanks, and sorry. Luna” She breathed at the letter, turning it into a bluish cloud that darted out of the room. The princess slumped to the floor. With a stare that could make the toughest of ponies tear up, she looked at the yellow sun-peanut nearing ground. Soon this day would be over. Soon.
* * *
The royal guards have seen it all today – the sun going crazy. The princess breaking all but the sturdiest of windows. Several guards going deaf, trying to calm her down. There was drama and action when it was learned that Luna, the most collected and regal of the two sisters, chased around Twilight Sparkle’s letter to Celestia with a maniacal grin.
Those that did not believe the last piece of juicy gossip soon had a rude awakening, as the blue alicorn was in yet another pursuit of a letter. Before bets could be established (2:1 for Luna not catching the letter this time), the fun was over and the guards were ordered by a furious Luna to return to their posts.
* * *
The blue mare finished reading the two page reply to her letter; the style was erratic and lots of time was lost on deciphering the bad hoofwriting. With a smile that did not suggest a healthy state of mind, Luna hovered over a quill and piece of paper.
“Twilight. Don’t panic. Everything is OK. DON’T WRITE.” The mare paused, looking around to replace the snapped quill. She blew her white/blue mane away and wrote with less vigour: “Tia needs to rest. Will write once she’s better. Hugs, Luna”. This time, the letter got slapped against the wall with a powerful blow from the princess. It eventually scattered into smoke, reassembling outside the castle walls and zipping towards Ponyville.
* * *
Luna stood on the balcony, leaning against the stone rail. The deformed star in the sky was ready to set, awaiting the command of the princess. Luna was tugging at the bleak strands in her mane – somehow the colour evaporated whatever dye she applied, proudly displaying near pearl-quality white.
With a deep sigh of determination, she picked herself up. Mind focused on the task, she gently embraced the sun, making sure its whole volume was covered by her spell. The mare groaned under the stress – vast amount of energy had to be expended to perform the most delicate actions. Slowly, the sun dipped behind the horizon. And then bounced back like a fishing bob. The princess tried again, making the sun go halfway beneath the horizon. Happily, Celestia’s “pupil” bounced back, turning dusk into day for a few moments.
There were already signs of panic on the streets and old comrades from the “frenzied citizens” groups united once again to scream in terror. Luna finally yielded – she smacked the star hard enough for it to go all the way down and kept it there forcefully for a while. When she felt the resistance fade, she let herself slump to the floor. If what she felt was true, Celestia would be raising a perfectly cubic star tomorrow. And laughing at her snow-white mane.
* * *
Luna knocked gently on the door to her sister’s room. A small pony in a doctor’s coat peered outside cautiously.
“How is she?” asked the princess, adjusting the cloak covering her mane and tail.
“Better,” said the doctor, closing the doors behind him. “Now, I’ve never treated Her Royal Highness before, so there was little I could do besides prescribing some basic medicaments and advising hot soup, with a good measure of resting.”
A sneaking suspicion crept upon Luna “Just how much is “a good measure”, dear doctor?” she asked, false hope in her trembling voice.
“Not very long,” he stated, happy the news made the princess sigh in relief. “A week or two should do the trick… Oh dear… Princess Luna?”
* * *
The moon rose to its post a bit later than it was expected. Luna totally forgot about her own duties in this whole mess. She managed to trade a few words with her sick sister (who looked like a disaster, the poor thing) and promised to take care of absolutely everything while she rests. There was a heart warming hug and affectionate nuzzling afterwards and Celestia faded into sleep in her sister’s embrace.
The blue mare rubbed her eyes vigorously and looked around her chamber. She would not rest this night, nor would she the day after that. Only now did Luna fully understand what it meant to run Equestria day and night. If she was this drained from one measly day, she could only fathom to image how Celestia fared for the thousand years that the princess of the night was banished.
There was no time for moping, though. Taking in a few deep breaths, the temporary ruler of all of Equestria was ready to tackle the night. Vigorously, she went to meet her first task. She stumbled as an unexpected sneeze broke her stride.
“Heh… Excuse me,” she apologised to the nearby guards (who, of course, pretended they didn’t see anything). Continuing on her way, she didn’t notice a pink hair infiltrate her otherwise pristine blue coat.
